Jobs to do in July

Harvest should be bountiful and the allotment is in full swing

Now is the height of summer, the days endlessly long, temperatures usually at their peek and you should be reaping the rewards of your hard work in the preceding months. Watering in this month is crucial to stem off premature bolting, tomato blossom end rot and splitting skins.

Fruit Trees & Bushes

Vegetable Jobs

Jobs Around the Plot

Harvesting

Sowing

Video

Fruit Trees & Bushes July

Fruit jobs in July

Pruning and training

Tidy up summer strawberries

Prune summer raspberries once they have finished fruiting

Prune cherries and plums once harvested

Apples and pears should be thinned to avoid over crowding.

Train in new shoots of blackberries and hybrid berries.

Cut back to five leaves all this years new side shoot from gooseberries, redcurrants, and whitecurrants, leaving the ones you want to develop into new branches.

Thin out fruit of indoor grapevines if large dessert grapes are required.

General care

Tidy up summer strawberries

Check netting on remain soft fruit.

Vegetable jobs in July

Vegetable jobs in July

Sowing and Planting

It is getting late in the year to be sowing and plating, but there is still time for lettuces, chicory, endives plus fast growing varieties of peas, beetroot and carrots.

Brussels sprouts, cabbages and cauliflowers: July is the time to sow cabbages for next spring, if space is tight sow them in temporary beds or pots, now is your last chance to plant out any Brussels Sprouts, winter cabbages, and autumn cauliflowers.